The present disclosure relates to an air-conditioning register that blows out air-conditioning air, which is delivered from an air conditioner, through the outlet of an airflow passage.
Vehicles have air-conditioning registers that are installed in the instrument panel. The air-conditioning register blows out air-conditioning air, which is delivered from the air conditioner, through the outlet at the downstream end portion of the airflow passage. One example of such air-conditioning registers includes downstream fins, upstream fins, and a shut-off damper, which are arranged in the order from the outlet toward the upstream side in the flowing direction of the air-conditioning air. Such an air-conditioning register includes an operation knob, which is arranged at the outlet to operate the downstream fins, the upstream fins, and the shut-off damper.
To improve the visibility and design of air-conditioning registers, operation knobs with an illumination function have been considered. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2016-120902 discloses an air-conditioning register that includes a light emitting portion and a power receiving portion connected to the light emitting portion, which are provided in the operation knob. The retainer of the air-conditioning register is provided with a power supplying portion, which wirelessly supplies power to the power receiving portion by the direct current resonance method.
This air-conditioning register wirelessly supplies power from the power supplying portion of the retainer to the power receiving portion of the operation knob, thereby causing the light emitting portion to emit light to illuminate the surroundings. This configuration requires neither feeder lines nor signal lines and thus has an improved aesthetic appearance. Unlike the case of wired connection, problems such as breakage of wires do not occur. The configuration also eliminates the necessity for routing feeder lines and signal lines to avoid breakage of the lines.
However, in the air-conditioning register disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2016-120902, the water vapor contained in the air-conditioning air flowing in the airflow passage condenses on the surface of the light emitting portion or the power receiving portion, which can cause corrosion, short circuits, and the like. Also, if sulfidizing gas contacts silver in the electronic components constituting the light emitting portion or the power receiving portion, the silver reacts with the sulfidizing gas. This may adversely affect the light emitting property of the light emitting portion.